Debate continues to rage over whether a strange carcass found in 1937 was a new species or a basking shark. Either way, the case reveals how little is known about what lies beneath the waves
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ts head resembled a dog’s, its downturned nose a camel’s, and at the end of its reptilian body was the tail of horse. Witnesses say it was covered in a thin white film. When the remains of a strange creature were pulled from the stomach of a sperm whale, most of those present agreed: it was a sea monster – or at least something unknown living in the depths off Canada’s west coast.
Crews at the whaling station in the archipelago of Haida Gwaii assembled a platform of wooden boxes and laid out the 3-metre (10ft) carcass, using a white sheet to display the curiosity that had baffled veteran whalers.
A photo of the creature, called the “Cadborosaurus”, by locals, appeared on the front page of a local newspaper on 31 October 1937, adding to the growing lore that a marine cryptid – a creature unknown to science – and at times supposedly measuring three times as long, stalked the waters.
